5 Marvel "Classics" Wolverine Reviewed Better Than

After years of waiting and anticipation, Insomniac’s Wolverine game has finally hit shelves and digital storefronts, only to be met with mostly disappointing reception. Considering Insomniac’s track record, the expectations for this game were extremely high, only to fall flat with many critics calling the game uninspired, too hand-holdy and repetitive. Despite all of this, Wolverine still holds a positive 77 score on Metacritic.

Seeing a Marvel game land in this rating area immediately brought me back to a different era in gaming, the Xbox 360/PS3 era to be exact. This was a time when Marvel games appeared to be releasing pretty regularly to similar reviews. Yet in present times they are now considered “classics”. So who knows, a decade or two from now, could Wolverine also fall into this category?

According to Metacritic, Wolverine is better than these 5 Marvel classics, and when comparing the reviews I’m starting to get a serious case of deja vu.:

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

Release Date: October 21, 2008
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC
Metacritic score: 68

2008 Criticisms:

• Whiny, Grating Voice Acting
• Game-Breaking Bugs and Glitches
• Repetitive Mission Structure
• Awkward Camera Angles

Back in 2008, developers were still trying to recapture the magic of Spider-Man 2's open world. Web of Shadows brought a really cool, darker concept to the PS3/Xbox 360 console era which included a full-scale symbiote invasion of New York City. However, the game suffered some technical issues and featured some truly awful voice direction for Peter Parker. It also included repetitive "beat up 50 generic symbiote clones" side missions that existed purely to pad out the runtime.

What people are saying today: It has absolutely achieved cult classic status. Modern players praise Web of Shadows for having some of the most fluid, kinetic aerial combat in the entire franchise! The "Web Strike" mechanic holds up incredibly well, and the ability to seamlessly switch between the agile Red suit and the hard-hitting Black suit mid-combo is a feature fans miss in the newer titles.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Uncaged Edition)

Release Date: May 1, 2009
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Metacritic score: 75

2009 Criticisms:

• Repetitive Enemy Encounters
• Linear Level Design
• Uneven Difficulty Spikes
• Uninspired Puzzles

Ah movie tie in games… Remember those? These games popped up anytime a big production would come out to try and ride the coattails of the film’s success and (most of the time) they would be considered one of the worst games you’ve ever played. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is  often seen as the holy grail of the movie tie-in anomaly: a video game that is unanimously considered vastly superior to the movie it’s based on. While the Hugh Jackman film was critically panned, the M-rated "Uncaged Edition" of the game finally gave fans the brutal, blood-soaked Wolverine experience they had been begging for (we’d have to wait a few more years for Logan’s release to see this adapted on the big screen). It borrowed from the God of War playbook, which resulted in a lot of repetitive hack-and-slash rooms, but the sheer visceral fun of it masked a lot of those flaws.

What people are saying today: This is widely regarded as the gold standard for a Wolverine game. Modern players are still blown away by the real-time visual damage system, where you can watch Logan's skin literally get blown off to reveal his adamantium skeleton, only for his healing factor to stitch the flesh back together right before your eyes. It's remembered as a masterpiece of the mid-budget action era that perfectly understood exactly what its main character was supposed to be.

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

Release Date: September 7, 2010
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC
Metacritic score: 76

2010 Criticisms:

• Strictly Linear (Lack of an Open World)
• Repetitive Combat Sequences
• Camera Issues in Tight Spaces

Developer Beenox took a huge risk with Shattered Dimensions. Gamers had come to expect an open-world sandbox from Spider-Man, so dropping that entirely for a linear, level-based action game rubbed some people the wrong way. Beenox made up for it by giving us four distinct Spider-Men: Amazing, Ultimate, 2099, and Noir. Each had their own unique art style, gameplay mechanics, and dedicated voice actor.

What people are saying today: It’s the game that literally birthed the Spider-Verse concept years before the comics or movies did. Modern retrospectives revere Shattered Dimensions for its creativity and its "love letter" approach to Spider-Man history, especially for bringing back legendary animated voice actors like Christopher Daniel Barnes and Josh Keaton. While the linear level design was a major criticism back then, today’s players actually appreciate the focused, no-nonsense pacing.

Captain America: Super Soldier

Release Date: July 19, 2011
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS
Metacritic: 60

2011 Criticisms:

• “Heavily Automated” Platforming
• Rushed Production (glitches, repetitiveness)
• Short campaign
• Lacking Polish and Depth

Yet another movie tie-in. Although this one isn’t as fondly remembered as X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Captain America: Super Soldier copied the combat mechanics of the Batman Arkham games making this game’s gameplay where it really shines. However, it lacked the depth and polish of the Batman games probably due to a rushed production schedule in order to get the game out alongside the movie Captain America: The First Avenger.

What people are saying today: Modern players praise the mechanics. While they acknowledge the clunkiness compared to modern action games (it does feel a bit slow and choppy), the satisfaction of chaining together shield tosses and melee takedowns holds up surprisingly well.

The game also tells an original story set within the MCU timeline rather than just poorly retelling the movie's plot. Fans enjoy how it expands on Cap's time in WWII, giving more screen time to his solo infiltrations and interactions with classic villains like Arnim Zola and Baron Strucker.

Deadpool

Release Date: June 25, 2013
Platform: PS3 Xbox 360, PC, PS4 Xbox One
Metacritic score: 62

2013 Criticisms:

• Repetitive Gameplay 
• Dull Level Designs
• Clunky Controls & Camera
• Short Campaign

Even back in 2013, everyone pretty much agreed that Nolan North perfectly captured the character. The game has a good self-aware parody script that mocks video game tropes and some pretty satisfying early gunplay (even if it is a little dated today).

What people are saying today: Today it’s actually praised for its 6-8 hour campaign, something that I too can get behind in a world full of endless backlogs. It’s agreed that the game nailed down the character 3 years prior to Deadpool’s cinematic release. While the gameplay is sometimes described as “dated.” Most players are forgiving of the clunky combat, barebones level design and lackluster enemy variety simply because the game is still entertaining in its storytelling.

How will Marvel’s Wolverine be remembered 10-20 years from now?

It’s hard to say… Despite all the mixed reception online, the game reportedly still sold pretty well. Those numbers will have to remain strong though if the game wants to remain profitable given its reported $300 million budget.

I’m currently playing through the game myself and so far I am not super impressed, but also not SEVERELY disappointed either. So maybe it’s rated right where it needs to be. I am the demographic for this game as I’ll buy just about anything Marvel related when it comes to video games. I love the characters and the stories that are told. I am hoping that Insomniac can take the criticism and put it to good use for future games and that Wolverine sells well enough for us to get that rumored X-Men follow up game… As I feel like it’s been way too long since we got a solid video game entry in my favorite super hero franchise.

To answer the question in my own opinion though, due to the extremely high anticipation and enormous budget, this game feels like it will be remembered more similarly to the 2020 game Marvel’s Avengers rather than Shattered Dimensions or X-Men Origins.